Wild Blueberries: Nordic vs Maine Berries

Naturally Nordic Wild Blueberries

These blueberries are also called bilberries, dwarf bilberries, and whortleberries, but their scientific name is Vaccinium myrtillus.

They’re bluish-black with brownish-red seeds and hang singly at the lowermost leaves of their lowbush shrubs.

The wild fruits are mostly native to northern Europe, particularly the Nordic forests found in Finland, Estonia, and Sweden. Hence, the name Nordic wild blueberries.

Maine Wild Blueberries

Scientists call these blueberries Vaccinium angustifolium. The fruits are bluish-purple and have white bell-shaped flowers.

The plant is famous for being fire-tolerant and can hibernate for 100 years.

The wild blueberries are indigenous to Northeastern America. Although they grow wildly in the barrens and mountains, they are also widely produced in New England and Quebec in Canada for commercial purposes.

Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s see how they compare in the four categories mentioned above.

Health Benefits of Nordic vs. Maine Blueberries

We know that wild blueberries are the giants of nutrition. But which of the two blueberries is more nutritious?

Maine’s wild blueberry only beats the Nordic wild blueberry in the sugar content subcategory, meaning that it’s more effective as a natural food sweetener.

However, it’s lower in other essential nutrients, making the Nordic blueberry the winner of the health benefits category.

Wild Doesn’t Always Mean Naturally ‘Wild’

Our Nordic Wild Blueberries are grown naturally deep in the forests. The crops are far away from industry, roads, and possible pollutants. When they’re ready to be harvested they’re hand-picked.

Left to fend for themselves, they are at the mercy of mother nature. Most of the time she’s kind and they grow abundantly and healthily. At other times, there can be weather elements that can result in a less than satisfactory yield. That’s ok, we still deliver to you only the most natural berries.

American Wild Blueberries are also grown in the wild, however, they aren’t left to their own devices. There’s a load of human involvement, including the possible use of fertilizers containing pesticides. Their goal is to produce bountiful harvests no matter what the elements do.

The question we want to answer in this category is, which wild blueberry will fill your basket for less?

Our Nordic blueberries are competitively priced, we may have had an excellent year and huge yields, bringing the prices down. If we have a more challenging time, prices may be higher.

Blueberry prices are considerably influenced by:

• Storage costs
• Shipping costs
• Packaging costs
• Customs duty/import tax
• Production costs

American wild blueberries may appear to be lower in price if they’ve had a successful yield, but at what cost to the product?

Always choose quality over low-priced quantity. This is what our customers have to say about our wild blueberries:

Contamination With Synthetic Chemicals

You want a blueberry that’s as organic as possible.

To be able to tell how pure each contestant is, we need to explore each one’s indigenous habitat.

Since they belong to the same family and genus, the wild blueberries thrive under similar climates and soil pH. That is:

• Cold climates
• Moderate rainfall
• Acidic, well-drained soils

The Nordic Wild Blueberry: Source

Unlike the highbush and Maine blueberry varieties, nobody plants Nordic wild blueberries—they’ve grown on their own in the Nordic forests for 10 millenia. This is what makes these blueberries wild.

To survive in a harsh, cold environment, Nordic wild blueberries contain large amounts of phytochemicals called anthocyanins. This explains the high concentration of antioxidants, hence the intense blue color.

The bluer your tongue the more antioxidants in the berries

The high polyphenol concentration increases the blueberries’ antioxidant capacity, giving them a nutritional advantage over Maine’s wild blueberries.

Nordic wild blueberries ripen sometime in September, although the season can begin anywhere between June and July depending on the region.

Unlike their American cousins, these lowbush Nordic berries are quite difficult to harvest. They are hand-picked or harvested with other forest berries using rakes and then sorted later.

Maine Wild Blueberries: Source

Maine wild blueberries are planted by sowing seeds or using rhizomes.

Although these blueberries aren’t as labor-intensive as their highbush cousins, growers can’t be completely hands-off with this crop.

The plants are lowbush and prefer full sunlight. Therefore, weeding is done to eliminate partial shade cast by taller plants.

Weeding also removes growing vegetation that competes for plant food and water.

To aid in pollination, growers introduce worker bees to the fields. These bees are carefully selected from colonies that are disease and pest-free. This is because some bees carry fungal diseases like chalkbrood to the fields.

To improve yields, growers prune the bushes by burning. Maine’s wild blueberries are known to sprout back stronger with healthy buds and new growth after this. Where burning is not applicable, field owners mow.

Fertilizers and pesticides are also used to increase production and protect the fields from common pests.

When grown in North America, Maine wild blueberries are harvested between July and early September. However, the harvesting seasons may vary depending on the regions where the fruits are.

Ease of Storage

Both types of wild blueberries can last for years when preserved correctly.

The most effective food preservation technique is called freeze-drying.

This method retains 97% of the blueberries’ nutrients. Thus, freeze-dried blueberries may be better than the frozen berries in your local grocery store.

When we pick our blueberries, we extract the water from them, creating a dry product (known as freeze-dried). The best way to store these is in an air-tight container at room temperature, free from any moisture.

Freeze-dried wild blueberries don’t need to be frozen. In fact, this can put them at risk of absorbing moisture, and end up lumpy.

Be careful when buying frozen blueberries. They rely on the environment to be completely cold at all times. If this freezing chain is broken in any way, for example, if you leave them sitting in a hot car, the value of the berry deteriorates.

Our blueberries are delivered to you in air-tight packaging, ready for eating and with all of their goodness intact.

How Can You Tell the Difference?

From the comparisons above, it’s clear that the Nordic wild blueberry is superior in every way. Both its quality of nutrition and its natural sourcing set it apart as the best wild blueberry.

But how do you know which berry is which?

Wondering Where to Buy Healthy Organic Wild Blueberries?

With the growing demand for wild blueberries, field owners want to increase production.

This has proven quite hard to achieve without compromising the authenticity of the crop by using pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, hormones, and other chemicals.

How do you make sure that you’ve picked the right organic wild blueberries?

Always check the package to see where the blueberries come from. They’re all labeled as “wild blueberries”, however, Nordic bilberries come from northern European countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Estonia.

Don’t stop at that; check the blueberries’ ingredient section to ensure that your blueberries have no preservatives and no added sugar.

Genuine dealers in wild blueberries should indicate this information to make it easy for you to decide.

At LOOV, our products are authentic and unadulterated. 

Enjoy amazing offers and prices by visiting LOOV today.

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